Sunday, July 14, 2013

There
is certainly no formula to estimate the cost, workload, time associated
with a metadata / business modeling / information architecture project.

It's axiomatic to do it, as we do not question whether a country needs
an army, whether we have to clean up our office desk (at least once in a
while) or whether we take a shower with a certain frequency (at least I
have not heard of anybody yet that has put an ROI on it). Just because
their ROI cannot be quantified does not mean, it's legitimate to neglect
certain tasks, sometimes common sense ("what would my mother have told
me") provides a sufficient answer. Unfortunately, it has become
"popular" in medium and large organizations over the past 20 years not
to pay to much attention to activities without direct monetary outcome,
and that is the reason why so many businesses today struggle with legal
compliance, security, privacy and data quality issues.

Surely, the way out of such a situation is not to "boil" the proverbial
"ocean". I suggest to collect and model metadata by business unit and/or
application following the priority in which their reorganization and
modernization is justified and scheduled. However, proceeding by line of
business comes with the risk that existing vertical silos are
maintained or newly created. It is therefore important to start with a
horizontal integration modeling project that lays the foundation for the
information architecture of the organization. It will show on a high
level how the lines of business interact and exchange information with
each other, and thus indicate where central objects are shared (Master
Data Modeling / Management).